The next morning came rather quickly, especially for Baloo and Bagheera. Bagheera soon went to nudge Baloo to go over and talk to Mowgli about going back to the Man Village.
"Oh, boy..." Baloo sighed to himself and soon tried to wake up the feral boy. "Mowgli? Mowgli? Uh, it's time to get up."
Mowgli then woke up with a stretch. "Oh. Hi, Baloo."
"Hi. Hey, rub that sleep out of your eyes," Baloo told him. "You and me, along with the girls, eh, we've got a long walk ahead of us."
"Uh, guys?" Mowgli called out to the girls. "Guys, wake up. Baloo wants to talk with us."
"I just went to sleep." Ashlyn grumbled a bit.
Cindy woke up yawning and stretching as she put on her glasses.
"Man, I feel great." Mike said as she woke up.
"Easy for you to say." Ashlyn said.
"Ah, you'll be fine." Mike told her.
"Fine..." Ashlyn said before sitting up. "This better be good. That tiger didn't come by, did he?"
"No, I don't think so." Baloo replied.
"Good." Ashlyn nodded.
Soon enough, Courtney, Ellody, Jayna, and Sledgehammer woke up too.
"Come along then." Baloo said.
The girls soon came to join Mowgli and Baloo along with Sledgehammer.
"Swell! We'll have lots of fun together." Mowgli beamed.
"Sure. yeah. Yeah, uh... Let's hit the trail, kid," Baloo said. "See you around, eh, Bagheera?"
"Well, goodbye Bagheera," Mowgli told the panther. "Me and Baloo, we've got things to do."
"Goodbye, Man Cub and good luck." Bagheera replied.
"Come on, Baloo," Mowgli smiled to Baloo before singing. "All we've got to do is... Look for the bare necssities Some good old bare necessities Forget about your worries and your strife. I mean the bare necessities,That's why a bear can rest at ease With just the bare necessities of life. Yeah! I'll live here in the jungle all my life!~ Yeah, man!~" he then laughed as he began to have fun. "I like being a bear. Where are we going, Baloo?"
Baloo just looked down in the dumps.
"I guess Bagheera gave him the talk last night." Courtney whispered to the others.
"Sounds about right." Ellody replied.
"Well, ah... It's a... Um, well it's sort of new, and-" Baloo stumbled a bit as he took the banana before tossing it behind him, making Ashlyn catch it and eat it since she felt hungry right now after being forced to wake up.
"Oh, I don't care, as long as I'm with you." Mowgli smile to Baloo.
"Mowgli, look buddy, there's something I've got to tell you." Baloo sighed.
"Tell me what, Baloo?" Mowgli asked as he began to chase a butterfly.
"Gee whiz. How did old Baggy put it?" Baloo sighed to himself before looking to the feral boy with a small smile. "Ah, Mowgli? Hah, you wouldn't marry a panther, would you?"
Mowgli chuckled a bit. "I don't even know what you're talking about."
"Mowgli, don't you realize that you're a human?" Baloo said to the feral boy.
"I'm not anymore, Baloo," Mowgli replied. "I'm a bear like you."
"Little buddy, look, listen to me." Baloo told him.
"Come on, come on, Baloo." Mowgli smiled, taking his arm.
"Now Mowgli, stop it now, now hold still," Baloo told him, trying to be assertive. "I wanna tell you something, now listen to me."
"What's the matter, old Papa Bear?" Mowgli asked.
"Look Mowgli, I've been trying to tell you, I've been trying all morning to tell you," Baloo told him firmly. "I've got to take you and the girls back to the Man Village!"
"And here comes the drama..." Cindy sighed to herself. "I'm just staying out of it."
"The Man Village?!" Mowgli's eyes widened.
"Now look, kid, I can explain." Baloo told Mowgli.
"But you said we were partners." Mowgli said, backing up away from the bear.
"Now believe me, kid, I have to because you're a human and you belong with the other humans, I-" Baloo told him.
"You're just like old Bagheera!" Mowgli said before running away the other way, further into the jungle.
"Now just a minute, that's going too far!" Baloo told him and soon tried to go after him. "Hey, Mowgli, where are you going?"
"Poor kid," Courtney frowned. "I feel bad for him."
"So, what do we do?" Ellody asked.
"I don't know about you, but I'm leaving Mowgli alone for a while, because if I just try to help, he's gonna snap at me, get fed up, and just ignore me because that's all anybody ever does whenever I try to help and stand up for myself in the city." Cindy said, a little bitterly.
"Overly dramatic much?" Ashlyn replied.
"Whoa... I wouldn't be talking, Miss I-Need-To-Beat-Danielle-Dastardly-At-Everything!" Cindy retorted.
"Guys, stop fighting, we need to work together to get out of here and find our friends." Mike reminded them.
"Sorry." Ashlyn and Cindy replied.
"I'm sorry, but it's just true," Cindy said. "Whenever I try to help, it just blows up in my face and then I end up looking like the bad guy. I didn't want that with moving into CN City, I wanted to make some friends who like me for who I am, is that too much to ask?"
"No, Cin, it's not," Mike told her. "Things just get hectic sometimes, and I'm sorry you have to feel that way. Believe me, I don't like it either, I even get exhausted whenever I have to put Kevin, Sarah, or anyone else in their place whenever things get out of control."
"But that's all gonna change now." Ellody said.
"Yeah, we don't need to fear people like Sarah, Heather, or even Amy," Courtney replied. "Even though Amy does scare me since she's the daughter of HIM."
"She's just all talk no matter who her father is," Mike said. "All I see is a whiny, attention craving, crybaby. Who cares what her powers are? It doesn't change her personality."
"Besides, the Powerpuff Girls have fought HIM a whole bunch of times and always kick his butt." Cindy added.
"I get the idea, but I still feel a little scared of her." Courtney told them.
"Well, you guys shouldn't be, now come on," Mike told them. "We've got to find Mowgli."
The other girls agreed as they soon went along to go and find the feral boy. Baloo was soon calling out for Mowgli.
"Now what's happened?" Bagheera asked.
"You're not going to believe me, Bagheera, but look, now I used the same words you did, and he ran out on me." Baloo told the panther.
"Why, don't just stand there. Let's separate," Bagheera told him. "We've got to find him."
"Oh, if anything happens to that little guy, I'll never forgive myself," Baloo sulked to himself before calling out. "I've got to find him. Mowgli? Mowgli!"
The search soon began through the jungle, but a certain predator was on his way through the jungle as well.
Justin soon woke up and came up to a body of water and washed his face with it since it was a brand new day. "Wake up, Justine, it's a new day." he then told his twin sister.
Justine mumbled as she soon woke up, yawning and rubbing her eyes. Justin freshened up a bit. Justine scratched her back a little before joining beside him to wash her face with him.
"I hope that we find them today." Justine said.
"Me too." Justin nodded.
"They couldn't have gone too far," Justine said. "I don't even know if Mike would want to come home, she's been under a lot of pressure lately. Not to mention that fight that Courtney and Jayna had before the storm hit. I just wanted to punch Courtney myself."
"I know you do." Justin coaxed.
"I think we need a vacation FROM this vacation." Justine giggled.
"Very funny." Justin rolled his eyes playfully.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Kaa remarked once he saw them.
The Reid twins soon looked over to see Kaa grinning at them.
"Um... Hi?" Justin said. "Can we help you with something?"
"Yes, you just have to trust in me." Kaa smirked as he tried to hypnotize them.
"Yes... We can trust you..." Justin and Justine soon said, hypnotized.
"Now, what brings you here?" Kaa asked them.
"We're looking for our friends..." Justine told him. "A monkey told us that they came by this way..."
"Ah... What do these friends look like?" Kaa asked.
"They were... They were..." Justin said as he struggled to get out of the hypnotic state.
"Don't you dare fight it, boy," Kaa told him. "You can't get out of my power!"
"I... I know I can... You're just one snake!" Justin told him.
"You shouldn't hesitate," Kaa smirked. "Nobody can beat my power."
"Wanna bet...?" Justine replied. "We're stronger than we look."
"I'm sure you two look morsels are..." Kaa smirked as he began to slither around them, wrapping them in his coils.
"Tell us, have you ever been burned by lava?" Justin asked.
"Of course not." Kaa replied.
"Would you like to find out?" Justine asked before suddenly...
"YOW!" Kaa yelped, getting scorched by lava which came from Justine's hand, making him get off of them in pain.
Justin and Justine blinked, shaking their heads as they went back to normal as Kaa slither away, blowing on his tail.
"You'll pay for this!" Kaa snapped.
"Are you okay, Justin?" Justine asked her brother.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Justin said. "Good move with that lava."
"No biggie," Justine replied. "It was either that or turn into a fish and slip away, but this seemed more fun."
"I would've turned into a lion, but come on, let's keep moving." Justin chuckled a bit.
"Let's." Justine agreed.
They soon packed up their stuff and soon went back on the trail as they avoided Kaa, much to the snake's misfortune.
"I'll get them next time." Kaa grumbled to himself.
Meanwhile, a certain tiger was prowling in the grass, coming close to a deer grazing, so he laid down, ready to pounce, but the sound of elephants trumpeting soon made the deer run away.
"Hup, two, three, four Hup, two, three, four Keep it up, two, three, four~" The elephants sang as they marched.
"What beastly luck," The tiger grumbled to himself. "Confound that ridiculous Colonel Hathi."
"Company, sound off!" Colonel Hathi commanded.
"Oh, we march from here to there~" The elephants sang together.
"And it doesn't matter where~" A male elephant sang.
"You can hear us push, Through the deepest bush, Hup, two, three, four~" The elephants all sang as they marched.
"With a military air!~" Colonel Hathi called out.
"With a military air~" The elephants repeated before they all let out a trumpet together.
Bagheera heard that from the trees and soon ran off. "The Jungle Patrol!"
"We're a crackerjack bridge, On a pachyderm parade, But we'd rather stroll To a water hole~" The elephants sang.
"Hup, two, three, four!" Junior counted out loud.
"For a furlough in the shade~" The elephants continued.
"Stop!" Bagheera cried out, but the elephants didn't notice him at first. "Wait a minute... HALT!"
The elephants then stopped, crashing into each other.
"Who said 'Halt'?" Colonel Hathi demanded. "I give the commands around here. Now speak up, who was it?"
"Oh, it was me, Colonel." Bagheera told the lead elephant.
"What do you mean, taking over my command?" Colonel Hathi glared at the panther. "Highly irregular you know."
"Colonel, I am sorry, b-but I need your help." Bagheera replied, unaware that Shere Khan was nearby and listening in.
"Impossible," Colonel Hathi told him. "We're on a cross-country march."
"It's an emergency, Colonel," Bagheera frowned. "The Man Cub must be found."
"What Man Cub?" Colonel Hathi asked.
"How interesting..." Shere Khan smirked to himself.
"The one I was taking to the Man Village." Bagheera told the elephant.
"It's where he belongs," Colonel Hathi rolled his eyes. "Now sir, if you don't mind, we'd like to get on with the march."
"No, no, you don't understand, Hathi," Bagheera told him. "He's lost. He ran away."
"How delightful." Shere Khan smirked to himself.
"Well, serves the young whippersnapper right." Colonel Hathi huffed about Mowgli's disappearance.
"B-But Shere Khan, the tiger, he's sure to pick up the man-cub's trail and maybe find the girls too and kill them too." Bagheera told the lead elephant.
Shere Khan nodded as he hid away while listening to the panther and elephant talk to each other.
"Haha, Shere Khan," Colonel Hathi laughed a bit. "Nonsense, old boy. Shere Khan isn't within miles of here."
Shere Khan chuckled to that.
"Sorry Bagheera. Fortunes of war and all that sort of thing you know." Colonel Hathi continued.
"This has gone far enough," Winifred glared before she soon stormed up to her mate to scold him. "Now just a minute, you pompous old windbag!"
"Winifred?" Colonel Hathi asked his mate. "What are you doing out of ranks?"
"Never mind. How would you like our boy lost and alone in the jungle?!" Winifred glared at him.
Junior then posed as an illustration for those words.
"Our son?" Colonel Hathi replied. "But Winifred, old girl, that's an entirely different matter."
"Hmph!" Winifred harrumphed.
"Different. Entirely." Colonel Hathi told her.
"That boy no different than our own son," Winifred glared. "Now you help find him or I'm taking over command."
"What? A female leading my herd?" Colonel Hathi replied. "Utterly preposterous."
"Pop, the Man Cub and I are friends, and I like those girls too," Junior piped up. "They'll get hurt if we don't find them. Please, Pop? Sir? Please?"
"Now, don't you worry, son," Colonel Hathi reassured. "Your father had a plan in mind all the time."
"Huh. Sure you did." Winifred snorted.
"Troopers, Company, left face!" Colonel Hathi commanded. "Volunteers for a special mission will step one pace forward."
All of the elephants stepped back when his back was turned, except for one who then noticed it and step behind too.
"Ha, ha. That's what I like to see," Colonel Hathi chuckled to that. "Devotion to duty. You volunteers will find the lost Man Cub and those city girls."
"Thank you, Colonel," Bagheera said before he soon left. "Now there's no time to lose."
"Yes, well. Good luck," Colonel Hathi told the panther before whispering to his army. "When the Man Cub is sighted you will sound your trumpet three times.
"Yes, sir!" One elephant replied, turning his trunk into an actual trumpet, about to do that, until Colonel Hathi closed hi trunk to silence him.
"Shh. Not now soldier."
"Sorry, sir." The elephant smiled nervously.
Colonel Hathi then came to the buzzcut elephant. "Lieutenant, our strategy shall be the element of surprise. You will take one squad and cover the right flank."
Shere Khan leaned forward to hear the whisper.
"Yes, sir. Hathi." The buzzcut elephant replied.
"And I shall take the other squad on the left flank," Colonel Hathi whispered even quieter before suddenly shouting. "COMPANY! Forward... March!"
The elephants soon walked away with the trees falling as they went.
"Element of surprise? I say. Ha, ha, ha," Shere Khan chuckled. "And now for my rendezvous with the lost Man Cub and those human girls."
Mowgli was still walking off on his own, feeling very upset about Baloo tricking him to taking him back to the Man Village when he clearly didn't want to. The girls kept their distance as they knew that Mowgli wanted to be alone right now, but kept an eye out for anyone, especially a certain tiger.